Chinese Factory Turns Environmental Bane into Boon

I have been asked to repost this interesting report from the Worldwatch Institute website, on China's efforts to recycle cow manure. The article is worth posting because all efforts to correct energy consumption and production practices must be applauded and celebrated. China's development policies have an extremely powerful role to play for the future of the planet, and it is wonderful to see their 'entrepreneurs' taking the lead in these matters. Perhaps the government of China will enact policies to encourage more of these initiatives. ...and then maybe the rest of the 'developed' world will
take notice.

Chinese Factory Turns Environmental Bane into Boon–By Yingling Liu – February 1, 2008 –China is beginning to take advantage of an unusual energy source: cow gas. Cows emit a significant amount of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, when they belch and flatulate.
According to People’s Daily, the world’s largest cow-dung methane power plant started operation on January 21 in China’s Inner Mongolia region. With an investment of 45 million RMB (roughly $US5.7 million) from the country’s largest milk producer, Mengniu Dairy, the plant is able to supply 10 million kilowatt-hours of electricity to the national power grid.


Using equipment and technology from Germany, the plant processes the dung, urine, and waste water from some 10,000 cows on Mengniu’s farm. The facility is able to produce 12,000 cubic meters of methane and generate 30,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity daily.


The heat derived from the power generation will be used for daily heating at the farm, and the water will be recycled for irrigation. The facility also produces 200,000 tons of organic fertilizers a year, a practice that will save 5,000 tons of coal annually.


Methane gas is the second-largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions worldwide after carbon dioxide. An adult cow emits 80 to 110 kilograms of the gas over its lifetime.

Worldwide, 1.2 billion large ruminants, including cows, produce an estimated 80 million tons of methane annually, accounting for some 28 percent of global methane emissions from human-related activities, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In total, the livestock sector is responsible for 18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

Read the entire report here: